Celtic is a branch of the Indo-European language family that once covered much of ancient Europe and today survives mainly on the Atlantic fringe of Britain, Ireland and Brittany. Its living members are Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Breton and the revived Cornish and Manx, together spoken by under a million people, a small remnant of what was once one of Europe's most widespread language branches.
Facts
RegionThe northwestern fringe of Europe (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, Cornwall, and Brittany), plus a few diaspora communities 1 Proto-Language StatusDescended from the hypothetical, reconstructed Proto-Celtic language 1 Celtic
Filter Results4 entries
Connections
Ancestor Of
Brittonic (Welsh, Cornish, Breton) is one of the two Insular Celtic branches alongside Goidelic.
Continental Celtic groups the extinct Celtic languages of mainland Europe (Gaulish, Celtiberian, Lepontic), as distinct from the surviving Insular Celtic languages.
Goidelic (Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx) is one of the two Insular Celtic branches alongside Brittonic.
Descends From
Celtic is a primary branch of Indo-European, once spoken across much of western and central Europe.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Celtic Languages
WikipediaModern distribution section: current range sentence
Today, they are restricted to the northwestern fringe of Europe and a few diaspora communities.
Lead section, paragraph 1: Proto-Celtic descent sentence
The Celtic languages ( KEL-tik) are a branch of the Indo-European language family, descended from the hypothetical Proto-Celtic language.
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